Argentina pressures for a badminton team to change its name from “Falkland Islands” to Malvinas in an international tournament

“Argentina is putting significant pressure on our team from the Falkland Islands to come out and play the tournament under the name Islas M ** vinas.”

The publication made by the team of badminton of the Falkland Islands On their social networks it quickly went viral and became a prominent news item in Great Britain within hours of the start of the men’s and women’s Pan-American tournament that will take place tomorrow, February 13 in Brazil. The conflict over the name that the representative of the Islands will use in the competition is a new chapter that relives what happened in an ice hockey game in September 2019.

The Argentine Foreign Ministry reported that it made a formal presentation through the Consulates in Salvador de Bahía and Rio de Janeiro before the organizers of the tournament and the Brazilian authorities: “In order to highlight that the Falkland Islands are not a State recognized by the international community and after presenting the Argentine position on the Question of the Malvinas Islands, expressing the rejection and concern of the Argentine Government in this situation, which is unaware of the existence of a sovereignty dispute between the Argentine Republic and the United Kingdom recognized by the United Nations on the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime areas ”.

The contest, which will be held from tomorrow until next Sunday in the city of Salvador de Bahía, has the host’s participation in its female version Brazil, Canada, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, United States and a team listed under the name of “Falkland Islands” which has 5 members. From the profile of Facebook of the “Falkland Islands Badminton”, assured that they are receiving “pressure” from Argentina to play with the Falkland Islands name. The detail is that every time they write Malvinas they do it with two asterisks to avoid putting the “A” and the “L”.

From the Pan American Badminton Confederation they confirmed Infobae that this afternoon will be done a technical meeting between the parties involved – Pan American Confederation, Falkland Islands Badminton and Badminton World Federation – to settle what the team will be called of the Islands during the championship. Although they avoided giving an official version about it, they warned that it is related to a “political” issue. And they clarified: “Falkland Islands” is a permanent member of the Badminton World Federation (BWF).

“Our President Dou Clark is with the team and has met with the President of Badminton Pan AM and the tournament organizers. He has informed them that we do not give in to the bullies and that obviously we will NOT back down and will NOT play like M ** lvinas”, They warned in the statement. “Argentina is pressuring Brazil to cancel the tournament if we don’t give in to their demands ”, they added.

From the badminton team of the Islands they are covered by the “article 7.6” of the regulation of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) in which it states: “Badminton players and teams of the member associations of BWF have the right to participate in tournaments sanctioned by BWF. For BWF sanctioned tournaments, A player will not be denied entry based on gender, sexual orientation, race, religion or politics”.

In return for this, the Foreign Ministry clarified: “Although, both the regulations of the Pan American Confederation and the World Badminton Federation allows the participation of clubs or organizations from territories that are not yet recognized by the international community, these standards do not empower either of the two entities to grant recognition of a pretended country status The national association to an entity that is subject to a sovereignty dispute, such is the case of the Malvinas Islands ”.

“The intention of the Chancellery is not that the club “Stanley Bádminton Club” modify your name or prevent their participation as a “sports club”, it is simply the intention of the Argentine government to reaffirm that the Falkland Islands are part of the Argentine national territory”, Concludes the statement from the Foreign Ministry.

The official site of the Pan American Badminton Federation had already warned during the days prior to the start of the competition the exceptional fact that a team from the Malvinas would be present. They had also placed it under the Falklands name: “This event would include the participation, for the first time in the history of the Pan American Championship, of the Falklands Islands, who will compete with a female team in search of the crown”.

“We are aware of the presence of this team because our referee who saw the list of participants and warned us. All we did was suggest to her that she evaluate what to do if she is appointed to lead a game for this team. But we didn’t talk to anyone else, it was an internal debate in our federation. We are Argentines and we do not agree, but we only do sports. We are not the ideal or prepared people to express ourselves on an issue that exceeds us ”, the president of the Badminton Federation of the Argentine Republic (FEBARA), Hector Maleh, explained to this medium. Argentina will not have representatives in this contest neither in the masculine nor in the feminine version; but it will have a judge as part of the event.

The tournament, beyond that it will be by teams, will provide individual points for the leading players of each country for the Olympic ranking towards Tokyo 2020. It is important to note that this qualifier began on April 9, 2019 and will end on April 26, 2020. In this way, the event to be held in Salvador de Bahía will be one of the last for competitors to continue adding in the search ranking for upcoming Olympics which will have their opening ceremony on July 24 in the capital of Japan.

The same happens with players who compete in doubles, since NOCs (National Olympic Committees) can enter a maximum of two pairs if both were classified in the top eight, while the remaining countries are entitled to one until the quota of the 16 highest ranked pairs is completed. Each continent must be represented at each event, which guarantees the host country – Japan – at least one quota place in each individual event and allocates additional quota places if players qualify in multiple events.

That is, this contest in Brazil will have an official character even to reach a place in the greatest sporting event in the world such as the Olympic Games.

There is a particular precedent in this regard: in 2010, a mixed badminton team from the “Falkland Islands” He participated in the Commonwealth Games that were held in New Delhi, India. In these exclusive games, the four countries of the United Kingdom participate and also representatives of independent delegations that for historical reasons have a link with the British crown.

THE COMPLETE COMMUNICATION OF THE CHANCELLAR

Days ago it was learned of the participation of a female Badminton team from the Falkland Islands in the “Male & Female Pan Am Team Continental Championships 2020”.

According to the information collected, the aforementioned tournament will take place in the city of Salvador de Bahía, Brazil, between February 13 and 16 of this year, is organized by the Brazilian Badminton Confederation and grants places for the final of the Thomas Cup and Uber, to be held in Denmark

On the website of the Brazilian Badminton Confederation, when consulting the tournament information, it is observed that the Falkland Islands are consigned as a separate entity from the Argentine Republic and they are identified with the illegitimate flag.

Although both the regulations of the Pan American Confederation and the World Badminton Federation allow the participation of clubs or organizations from territories that are not yet recognized by the international community, these regulations do not authorize either entity to grant the recognition of an alleged status of country or national association to an entity that is subject to a sovereignty dispute, such is the case of the Falkland Islands.

In this sense, our Consulates in Salvador de Bahia and Rio de Janeiro, and our Embassy to Brazil, were asked to make representations to the tournament organizers and the Brazilian authorities in order to highlight that the Falkland Islands are not a State recognized by the international community and after presenting the Argentine position on the Question of the Malvinas Islands, expressing the rejection and concern of the Argentine Government in this situation, which is unaware of the existence of a sovereignty dispute between the Argentine Republic and the United Kingdom recognized by the United Nations on the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime areas.

The intention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not that the “Stanley Badminton Club” club modify its name or prevent its participation as a “sports club”, it is simply the intention of the Argentine government to reaffirm that the Falkland Islands are part of the Argentine national territory.

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Controversy over an ice hockey game between an Argentine team and a team from the Malvinas Islands